This Week on the Blog
Yankees: Sevy isn't expect till May, and CC won't appear till sometime in April, it could be sooner but he's got his suspension to serve. Ominiously. Jacoby Ellsbury could rejoin the Yanks this week and migh be end up being their starting CF to start they year. Okay, whole that's all bad news, the good news is Aaron Judge. He seems to have improved. He has gotten rid of his leg kick with two strikes and he is crushing balls ala the similarly flat footed Joe DiMaggio. Judge has had period through his metioric rise, where he looked like a high average, high OBP, high SLG and if he can continue to cut down the K's with his new approach, we could really see some 1930s type productio. Also, after a slow start Stanton is raking, too. As is Gardy and Andujar. And Bird and Wade. And they're about to play the Jays. Holy shit, Judge just hit another BOMB! So does Gleyber!
UPDATE: Estevan Florial broke his right wrist crashing into the wall in CF. He'll miss 6-8 weeks, again this year and lots of AB's.
Giants: This week, the Giants created one need, but took care of two. As currently composed they have no big playmaker at WR. Golden Tate and Serling Shepard ad some YAC, but neither is explosive. Fortunately, the coming draft is full of big, fast WR's and the Giants have a lot of picks. What they did do that was a positive was settle the Safety position with Peppers and Bethea, and solidify RG for years. They are still in desperate need of an upgrade at RT, and Mike Remmers left yesterday withouth a deal. It would be nice to get someone like Remmers, but with the way the draft is set-up we can also get a long term RT at 17, 37 or maybe even with our third. It would also be good for them to find a Center-Guard for depth and to eventualy unseat Pio. They did add some passrush this week, and yesterday add 3-4 DE Olsen Pierre, who had 5.5 sacks working for Boettcher in AZ. We'll see what else they can get done ahead of the draft - as well as who visits, as those are about to start.
Rangers: The Rangers are at that time of year when they sign former picks and undrafted guys. And before their loss yesterday, they signed WHL F Jake Elmer, a late blooming 20 year old, right shot, who just had 38 goals and 78 points in 66 games this year. This is a good practice, as they are still realing a bit from all those ones and twos they traded since the cup runs started. Like the Giants they have at least 2 ones this year and a plethora of other picks.
Knicks: Zion Williamson has looked amazing in two games and it seems imperative that the Knicks win the lottery. Zion would be the first powerful heart scorer the Knicks have had since Willis Reed. They've had other heart players, like Mason and Oakley, but they weren't big time scorers. So please, can we win the lotter and finally get this thing going in the right direction.
So there it is, Yanks are injured, but their best players look amazing, the Giants still have a lot of work to do, and a lot of picks with which to do it, the Rangers should keep signing guys and the Knicks have to keep tanking. Have a great week!
posted by Kalel9 @ 10:36 AM
41 Comments:
I didn’t know about Florial. When the f will they mandate padded walls or forfeit the ability to have games played at your stadium, and until that happens this is on every ML team that permits their players to assume that risk.
I am really concerned about Knox’s regression. But for now there is still reason for hope with the Knicks.
The NYG still sicken me.
Agreed about the walls, but Florial also doesn’t need to be trying to make that kind of play in spring training. Luckily it isn’t a full break, so it’s not the worst possible outcome. Still, if the Yankees didn’t have bad injury luck, they’d have no injury luck at all, and Florial would be way behind the 8-ball were he still not only 21.
You’re right, but like Frazier last year, sometimes young guys trying to prove something make suboptimal choices.
So it’s hard not to be a little concerned about what kind of start to the season they will have.
My whipping boy Happ better step the f up.
Bryan Hoch: With the Aaron Hicks news, it looks like Greg Bird and Luke Voit will both make the club. Now the question is Clint Frazier vs. Tyler Wade. Guessing they will opt for Wade’s versatility.
Frustrating that it took an injury to Hicks to do the right thing but here we are. Frazier probably needs more at-bats in SWB to shake off the rust.
Eli got his $5m. They don’t care about championships, only pretending.
“Yankees made an offer to Gio Gonzalez, but there’s a gap. Not a great deal of optimism at moment but there’s at least reason to think both sides might want to come together,” MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweeted Sunday afternoon.
Hicks missing Opening Day?
Who is Gonzalez? Last season, the left-hander, now 33 years old, went 10-11 with a 4.21 ERA in 32 starts between the Nationals and the Brewers. He’s seen his strikeout rate, which was at 7.8 batters per nine innings, fall from .84 in 2017 and 8.7 in 2016 and 2015. He also walked more batters per nine innings (4.2) last year than he did in 2017 (3.5). He’s made 31 or more starts every year but one since 2010.
Best game by Knox in a while.
If the Lakers win the lottery I will puke.
Gary Sanchez said he checked if Dellin Betances was okay (throwing 90 mph fastballs) b/c it was first time catching him this spring. Betances said, again, he feels good, he’s a slow starter & arm strength is still building. Aiming for at least 95 mph to feel ready for the season.
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On the other extreme Anderson Severino hit 100
Gettleman is full of shit.
Anderson Severino is a lefty!
The Giants are in serious trouble. They are just trying to snow their fans.
I disagree to a certain extent, by draft's end both lines and several other issues will be fixed. Plus if we don't find the QB of the future now, Russell Wilson wants to be a Giant and we'll have the money to sign him next year.
I don’t want Russell Wilson. I want a top young quarterback.
I also don’t want Gio Gonzalez.
Suppose they’re getting close
8:18pm ET: The Yankees are now closing on a deal with Gonzalez, report Heyman and Ken Rosenthal. It will be a minor league deal with a $3M base salary at the MLB level, plus incentives based on games started. Gonzalez also gets an April 20th opt-out if he’s not on the big league roster, which indicates he is not an Opening Day candidate.
Not a big fan of Gio, either, but do remember when he was among the hottest prospects in baseball.
Are you wanting a player who may not exist to be the next Giant QB?
Freakin blogger ate my long ass comment.
In a nutshell, I wanted a quarterback last year; they instead kept Eli, then kept starting Eli instead of Lauletta and that may have cost them a shot at Murray, and now with Band-Aid veterans after ridding themselves of two of their best players, they won’t be able to get in a position for Herbert or Tuo or a late comer.
So there’s a way to get a guy but you have to have the will, and they don’t.
They want the quickfix on the fly bullshit
I know they didn’t forbear on signing anyone in the hope that Mike Trout would become a free agent in a few years, but he’s not going to be a free agent in a few years, and that demonstrates why you make all your decisions in here and now .
Hicks says he is pain-free but he hasn’t swung a bat so it doesn’t mean that much yet.
I think it’s pretty obvious that Gettleman will make an offer for Rosen if things shake out the way they seem.
I say this because Gettleman knows the quarterback position is where his track record is most vulnerable; he would make an offer at what he perceives is a discount; and in his mind that will justify his dubious strategy.
Betances on IL. At least they didn’t extend him like Sev and Hicks. I wonder what kind of offer he may have turned down, because although he’s rich for normal people for baseball he’s never cashed in big.
I don’t have any strong opinions on Gio one way or the other. If he surprises it means someone else is either hurt or not performing.
I’m generally very pessimistic in regard to injuries but none of the ones to those three are raising too big a red flag right now. Of course, that can always change.
I know they promised DJLM playing time but if both Bird and Voit are gonna hit like this then the plan needs to be adjusted to take that into account.
So I guess this means there will sign Kimbrel, right? ;)
Hicks added that doctors told him the problem was muscular and not spinal.
“I felt like the first one definitely hit the spot for sure,” Hicks said of the first cortisone shot he had March 11. “I made really big gains on that one. The second one, I just feel like it was a little more to the left that needed to get attended to. I feel like that finally knocked it fully out.”
And Adam Schefter said that they received better offers than what the Browns offered. This is such a cluster fuck, but it’s all on the Maras because they’re only interested in GM’s that will let them continue to have a huge influence on player personnel. Compare this to Cashman whi will shop around any offer, as he should.
What Gettleman did reveal is that he didn't shop around for a better offer before ultimately trading Beckham to the Cleveland Browns. He merely made a courtesy call to his friend and former colleague Brandon Beane in Buffalo to see if the Bills were interested.
Gettleman's explanation on this strategy was mind-numbing, perhaps even professionally negligent.
"When it comes to trading, the team that makes the call ... is playing from behind. You're in a much better position of strength when teams call you. You're in a much better position. Because I wasn't doing that -- we're not trading Odell, understand what I'm saying? That's really why it worked out the way it worked out. It wasn't something we had to do, and someone was going to have to knock it out of the park."
There were red flags with Fulmer last year and now he is was getting TJ surgery. The trades you don’t make ...
I have never bought into the Jeter hagiography. He was a great player, but seemingly kind of out of touch and petty. But I would have recommended giving him a piece of the team (or really the right to buy-in) because it would’ve kept him from raiding some of the Yankee decision-makers. So I support Cashman on his negotiating stance. And let’s be real, if Hal had wanted to overpay him just as a thank you Cashman’s opinion wouldn’t have mattered.
From a new book excerpted in the NYP:
Nonetheless, Jeter wanted to get paid like the player he’d been in his middle twenties. In the fall of 2010, he became a first-time free agent at the age of thirty-six. He’d had a bad year at the plate and a worse one in the field, but he demanded a max contract into his forties. Cashman pushed back, declining to bargain against himself. The terms he set and stuck to — $51 million for three years — pricked Jeter’s damaged pride. “Jetes sent messages through his agent that we were f—ing him when no one was willing to pay what we offered,” says Cashman. “I’m like, ‘How much higher do we have to be than highest?’ ” He invited Jeter and his agent, Casey Close, to go out and shop the deal. Jeter returned to the table smarting; no one had come close to the Yankees’ bid. Close even suggested a stark concession for his client: a piece of either the YES Network or the team. “At the meeting, Derek said, ‘What other shortstop would you want playing here?’ and I started rolling off names,” says Cashman. “I got, like, three names down and Casey said, ‘Stop, this isn’t productive.’ Then Derek got up and goes, ‘You guys finish this! I don’t want to go anywhere else, but I don’t want to be in here either!’”
Nice game by Knox but they can’t stop anyone.
FWIW, Boomer would take Haskins at one overall.
Bird has elbow swelling after HBP yesterday....
Snell got a five-year, $50M extension, which covers one year of his free agency. Runs through his age 30 season.
Hope it’s nothing serious RE: Bird.
Goldschmidt will get extended by the Cards. At least five years, $110M per Rosenthal.
X-Rays negative on Bird.
Good.
Estevan Florial (wrist) will only be in a cast three weeks, so that’s good news. RAB
The Red Sox are extending Sale. I know the price was expensive but he’s one of the few pictures that would’ve been worth trading for, however, the emergence of Yankees’ young core later that year wasn’t foreseeable.
So I can’t Cashman for that, unlike Happ over Eovaldi which was dumb.
PITCHERS
Frazier optioned as expected. If anyone needs a hot start it is obviously Bird.
Duke not looking as good as the other number 1's so far.
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